corn essence

It's time. CORN! Don't make this unless you have use for the kernels. This is a corn 'broth' that makes anything and everything taste good. I would add it to anything that calls for broth. I would even think of adding 1 part essence (cold), 1 part tonic, 1 part gin. Delicious.

Bring 1 quart of water to a boil in a shallow pan.
Add 6 corn cobs.
Add bottoms of cilantro or basil.
Simmer for 30 minutes.
Strain.
Put liquid in a clean pan and reduce by 50%.

Refrigerate and use within 3 days.

Blueberry Sherbet

Remember, sherbet has 1 "r," not 2. Ok, we got that straight. I've been making quarts of ice cream weekly and this seems to strike the balance between satisfying, lightish, and summery goodness.

Sherbet - Milk - Eggs = Ice Cream

Blueberry Sherbet
shopping = easy
difficulty = medium
expense = medium

3 pints blueberries
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup water
1/4 t. kosher salt
3 T. lemon juice
2 t. vodka, (I use dogfish vodka - local ingredients)
2/3 cup heavy cream
(if you are going to buy one organic, high-quality item here, make it the cream)

1. In a medium saucepan, add blueberries, water, salt, sugar
2. Using a potato masher, mash mixture carefully, 2 minutes
3. Bring mixture to simmer.
4. Simmer 5 minutes
5. Cover and cool for 1 hour
6. Press mixture through a strainer into a glass/steel container.
7. Cool mixture overnight (the remaining blueberry mash is a great fresh jam.)
8. [Next Day] Whisk cream to soft peaks.
9. While whisking (or with KitchenAid on low), slowly pour in blueberry mixture.
10. Whisk for 20-30 seconds - some white streaks is ok.
11. Turn on ice cream machine and pour in mixture.
12. Churn for 15-20 minutes (SHERBET SHOULD NOT BE STIFF. THAT WOULD BE TOO FAR.)
13. Put into pint containers and freeze for 2+ hours
    

Fennel + Sweet Potato side dish

this is a simple and enjoyable side dish.

Braised Fennel & Sweet Potato

shopping = easy

difficulty = low

expense = low

Secure a heavy-bottom, oven-safe pan.

1 Fennel bulb, fronds removed, cut into 8 pieces
1 Sweet Potato, peeled, cut into 16 pieces
1 T. butter or olive oil
1 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper
1 cup water

1. Heat butter (or oil) on medium-high heat to foaming but NOT browning stage
   
2. Preheat oven to 350.
3. Add fennel and sweet potato, ensuring each piece has a little butter on bottom
4. Cook for 5 minutes NOT moving vegetables
5. Warm water in another pot with salt and pepper
6. Pour water over vegetables
7. Move pan to oven.
8. Bake for 15-20 minutes until liquid is mostly reduced and knife slides out of sweet potato easily

remove from oven and cool for 5-10 minutes.

enjoy

APAW 4 - fig and walnut tart

Fig & Walnut Tart

I wanted to try something all-season to see if I could work on a "go-to" pie. I came across a few variations of this tart between Claudia Fleming's The Last Course, Alice Waters Chez Panisse Desserts, and Baking Illustrated.

I settled on the Baking Illustrated recipe and substituted Cointreau in, Brandy out.

The recipe called for the Italian dough "Pasta Frolla." I was excited to work with that type of dough as it's supposedly more forgiving.

Well long story short the tart was nice, homey, and tasty - but nothing great. I rolled out a slightly uneven crust which lead to some nice crackly sections and other cakey sections.

Next time, I'll substitute out half the walnuts for pine nuts, when they go down in price. Have you seen the price of pine nuts today?

APAW 3 - Apple Pie

Same pie as APAW 1 but my crust was even better. I may have been too generous with the egg wash.

The 3 pounds of apples this time were:

1 lb. Stayman Winesap

1 lb. Pink Lady

1 lb. Honeycrisp

this ended up a little mealier - just a little, but more fragrant that APAW 1.